Almost half of Brits feel the country is in austerity – or returning to it
Despite the Chancellor’s repeated assurances that this Budget does not represent a return to austerity, many Britons are not convinced.
New data from polling group More in Common shows only 24% of Britons believe that Britain is not returning to austerity; 19% believe Britain is returning to austerity, and more than a quarter (26%) believe that Britain never stopped implementing austerity.
Three in five Reform voters (62%) say Britain is in, or returning to, austerity. Even among Labour voters, 51% believe this to be true.
Notably, the data shows that Brits are also not convinced about the need to raise taxes. Following a tax-heavy Budget, it will be essential for the Government to demonstrate the necessity of the public having to pay more, More in Common said.
Even before the Chancellor was accused of misleading the public about the OBR’s forecasts, Britons were sceptical about the need to increase taxes: By a margin of 53% to 24%, Britons think that there were good options that the Chancellor could have chosen that didn’t involve putting up taxes.
Asked how this year’s Budget compares to previous fiscal events, only 15% of Britons say it was better than last year’s Budget, while 33% say it was worse and 35% say it was no better nor worse.
Compared to Liz Truss’ mini-budget in 2022, just 34% of Britons think that this year’s Budget was any better. Meanwhile 25% say it was no better or worse, and 15% think it was worse.
